The Person Who Sweeps The Floor Should Choose The Broom
The people doing the work know best how to do it, so give them the authority to decide.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 93%
Behar's decision-making philosophy is that the person who sweeps the floor should choose the broom, because the person doing the work knows best what needs to be done. Instead of handing new hires a handbook of prohibitions, you tell them the organization's greater purpose, give them genuine choices in how to do the job, and check in to support rather than police. When a floor-sweeper finds a better broom online, a bad boss rolls their eyes and says use the broom I gave you, which destroys the person's excitement and teaches everyone not to take chances. Pushing authority to the edge is what keeps ideas and innovation flowing up.
Origin
Behar developed this leading Starbucks International, where he wanted to 'be the broom sweeper' with authority to make his own decisions, and saw it validated when frontline listening produced the Frappuccino.
Core principles
- 01Whoever is closest to the work has the best information to decide how it's done.
- 02Give people purpose and room, not a rulebook of prohibitions.
- 03Rejecting frontline ideas destroys the excitement that fuels innovation.
- 04Autonomy within clear ethical boundaries beats top-down control.
How to run it
- 1
Lead with purpose, not prohibitions
When you bring someone in, tell them the greater purpose of the organization and why they're here, rather than a list of things they must never do.
Watch out Handing over a rulebook of threats signals distrust and shuts down initiative before it starts.
- 2
Give real choices in the work
Offer people genuine options in how they accomplish the task, so they own the method, not just the outcome.
Pro tip Behar's parable gives the floor-sweeper five brooms to choose from.
- 3
Check in to support, not police
Meet after a couple of weeks to ask how it's going and whether they need help, watching for the spark of engagement.
- 4
Say yes to their better idea
When they bring you an improvement, embrace it instead of dismissing it, because rejection kills the willingness to take chances.
Watch out If purchasing or a rule blocks a good idea, you teach people not to bother trying.
In the wild
Store manager Dina Campion listened to her customers, believed a blended cold drink was needed, and pushed the idea despite leadership insisting Starbucks was a coffee company that wouldn't sell such a thing. Behar broke the rules to trial it, risking being fired.
→ The Frappuccino became a $4 billion business, driven entirely by one frontline person who knew her customers better than the home office.
In Behar's parable, a new hire named Jim is given purpose and five brooms to choose from, then comes back excited about a new broom he found that would clean faster. The good boss celebrates it; the bad boss says just use the broom I gave you.
→ Embracing Jim's idea keeps his excitement and initiative alive; dismissing it destroys engagement across the whole team.
Common mistakes
Handing over a rulebook of prohibitions
Leading with a handbook of what people can never do, instead of purpose and choice, kills initiative before the person starts.
Overruling the frontline idea
Rolling your eyes at a frontline improvement teaches everyone that taking chances gets rejected, and the ideas stop coming.
Is it for you?
Best for
Multi-unit and scaling organizations that need frontline judgment and innovation to keep flowing.
Not ideal for
Contexts requiring strict standardization for safety or compliance where frontline variance is dangerous.
From the transcript
“the person who sweeps with Force choose a broom who knows better about what needs to be done the person that's doing the work”
“Frappuccino came because Dina Campion listened to her people... it became a $4 billion business”
From the episode
Howard Behar: Former Starbucks President Reveals How Starbucks Grew to 15,000 Stores